Barring a miracle happening sometime between today and December 30, 2010, only six months remain before the staggering U.S. economy gets hit with the biggest bunch of tax hikes ever.

It happens Dec. 31, 2010, as the Bush administration's tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 expire. They will expire because, as Democratic leaders have long promised, they are not being renewed by President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

They think that because they aren't doing anything about the coming expiration - though doing nothing is in the context actually endorsing the consequences - they won't be held responsible for what follows in 2011. 

It's not actually all that unusual for tax measures to expire, as is made clear by this report from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Last year, for example, there were 72 expiring provisions, ranging from the familiar first-time home buyers credit, various empowerment zones, multiple alternative energy credits, and provisions for various investment, education, and retirement deductions.

But the 2010 expirations for key provisions of the Bush tax cuts are going to be felt throughout the nation's economy and at all income levels.

For example, tax rates for everybody are going up. 

* The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%

* The 25% bracket rises to 28%

* The 28% bracket rises to 31%

* The 33% bracket rises to 36%

* The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

If you die between now and the 31st, your children or other heirs won't have to worry about paying the death tax aka the "estate tax." Die the next day and they will be liable for up to 55 percent on estates of $1 million or more. There are far more estates worth a mllion bucks than you likely realize.

Then there is the capital gains tax that will rise from 15 percent to 20 percent. Economic growth is especially sensitive to capital gains tax rates. Cutting capital gains tax rates almost always generates more growth and more revenue for the government, while increasing them invariably hurts economic growth and reduces government revenues.

The dividends tax rate will go from 15 percent to 39.6 percent. As with the capital gains, tax dividends more and there will be less of them.

But if these tax hikes from expiring tax cuts aren't scary enough, Ryan Ellis at Americans for Tax Reform will tell you all about the 20 or more tax hikes in Obamacare. Check it out here.